Neighbors and Friends is a weekly Daily Tribune series that highlights everyone from longtime residents to community leaders. Readers can nominate friends, neighbors and co-workers by sending the information to deb.cleworth@cwnews.net or calling 715-423-7200, ext. 6730.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – As a child, one of Dave Bruener’s favorite musical groups was the Jackson Five. As an adult, he now leans toward the Ramones and Social Distortion.

One of the other things that has changed for the former owner of Bruener Lumber in Port Edwards is his vocation. In 2005, Bruener went to the University of Saint Mary of the Lake-Mundelein Seminar in Mudelein, Ill.

Becoming a priest — he was ordained in 2013 — definitely wasn’t one of his goals while growing up and attending school at Our Lady Queen of Heaven and Assumption High School. Guests would talk to students about religious vocations, and Bruener said his response was a firm, “Nope, no way, not me.”

After graduating from Assumption in 1979, Bruener went to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he graduated with a degree in fine arts (drawing and painting). Always a practicing Catholic, it would be years later before he had that “light bulb moment” to make a change in his life.

“I was on vacation and a question came to me, ‘If you had a year to live, what would you do?’” Bruener said. His answer: “I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing; I would want to know Christ better.”

He talked to a lot of people, including Sister Catherine Kaiser, formerly the administrator at St. Alexander’s in Port Edwards, the Rev. John Swing of Sacred Heart in Nekoosa, and, of course, friends. By and large, people were excited for him.

“The support was much greater than I knew,” Bruener said.

But going back to school in his 40s was tough, he said.

“I don’t think I was ever the oldest, but I was always one, two or three,” he said, with a laugh.

It was getting back into studying that proved to be a challenge.

“It was really hard,” Bruener said. “My experience in college was good, and I was expecting that (kind of) mental ability.”

With lots of encouragement and support, he made it, and after a short stint at a couple Wausau parishes, Bruener was assigned to St. Lawrence in Wisconsin Rapids. He started there in January and also serves at St. Philip Church in Rudolph.

“The relationships I have in this area are very deep, and it’s just so nice to be back,” he said, adding his mother Dorothy, 94, still lives in Port Edwards.

Bruener said he’s still the same guy, but with “a little added frosting on top.”

“That’s probably the thing most people don’t know about religious life,” he said. “It doesn’t turn you into someone else, it makes you into someone you’re supposed to be.”

The experience has been a lesson in trust.

“You gotta trust God; you gotta trust him,” he said. “Maybe it seems crazy and very strange, but you have to trust him.

“For me, (this journey) affirmed the goodness of people and the goodness of people who don’t even acknowledge God,” he said.

And he’s still the guy from Port Edwards who likes the Ramones — and cars.

During a recent interview with a Daily Tribune reporter, he pointed out the window and said, “There’s an old Corvette coming down the road.”

People in religious vocations are still people.

“It’s not like an ‘us vs. them’ thing,” Bruener said of religious orders. “We are being drawn together, but not perfectly by any means.”

Deb Cleworth can be reached at 715-423-7200 ext. 6730 or deb.cleworth@cwnews.net. Follow her on Twitter @DebCleworth.

More about Rev. Bruener

•Fr. Dave, 53, Port Edwards, is the pastor at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Wisconsin Rapids and S. Philip in Rudolph. His mother, Dorothy resides in Port Edwards. Bruener is the youngest of five children.

•Hobbies: “I still like my cares, like I always have. Mostly muscle cars (1960s and 1970s) and later, but I like the modern performance cars, too. I’m not too picky that way, as long as they are fun to drive.”

•What is your favorite book? “Dad is Fat,” by comedian Jim Gaffigan. “It’s just full of truths; funny and silly.”

•Something on your bucket list: “I have kind of a bucket list for this summer,” Bruener said. There are two things: The Hot Rod Power Tour in Madison, and the Car Craft Street Nationals in Milwaukee., 2015